Don't Blink
by imaginaryinkwell
Summary: Percy Jackson is a talented magician and thief, but what happens when he discovers he's stolen a book containing real magic, and that the one person who knows of his thefts is the one person he can't stay away from: Annabeth Chase. As Percy struggles to withhold the secret of his abilities from her, and she struggles not to turn him in, could something blossom between them? AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my first story, so don't be too cruel if there happens to be some mistakes. If you have some constructive criticism, i'm completely open to it. This story is rated T for mild language, and that's about it. Enjoy!**

"Watch closely, and remember: Don't. Even. Blink."

I grinned as I purposefully enunciated every word. To add to the suspence I very slowly raised my hand, the audience's selected card gripped tightly in my fist. With a sudden burst of motion, I thrust the card into the air, and watched as it disappeared. Of course it didn't actually disappear, I had just quickly palmed it into the back of my hand. I watched as the crowds slowly began to gather, the oooohs and awwwws attracting attention. I grinned and looked at the guy who had selected the card.

"Sir, if you would so kindly reach into your back pocket," I said as I smirked mischeviously.

The crowd exploded into shouts of "How did you do that?" and a few "what the in the hell?"s. As the guy pulled his selcted, signed card out of his back pocket, all while he stared at me with an amazed expression.

"Please man, you gotta tell me how you did that!" He said, with a complete look of curiousity plastered on his face.

"Can you keep a secret?" I asked, completely serious. He nodded vigorously.

"Come closer," I said as I motioned with my hand.

As he moved up close to me and leaned over.

"So can I" I whispered into his ear. As he backed away with a look of disappointment and a little bit of humour, he walked back into the crowd, completley oblivious to the fact I had stolen his phone and wallet out of his jacket pocket. A word of advice, never keep both your phone and your wallet in the same pocket, it makes it easier for pickpocketers like myself to do our job.

As I quickly tucked the stolen items into my pocket, turning back to the crowd, getting ready to perfrom my next trick when all of a sudden I heard a girl shouting-

"HEY! THAT GUY JUST STOLE HIS WALLET!"

When I looked up to find the source of the sound, my heart suddenly skipped a beat as I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was decently tall, just about under an inch under my hight of 6'3, with the most beautiful and intimidating storm grey eyes. And her hair, oh man, her _hair_ looked just about as amazing as any wonder of the world, as it fell over her shoulders, so beautiful the reminded me of golden princess curls. She seemed pretty athletic, as if she were on some sort of sports team, and judging by her muscle growth, I'd place my bets on track. To top it all off, she was about my age, which meant she was most likely a senior, just like me, and totally availible to ask out.

Then with a start, I suddenly realized what she had yelled and quickly grabbed my fedora, now filled with money, and slipped onto my head.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure to confuse you today, until the next time." I quickly grabbed two decks of card, one in each hand and shot them into the air. Right on time too, as the crowd had just broken into angry shouts of violence and justice.

Under the cover of the now raining cards, I pulled on my jacket and quickly fled through a back alley. It never hurt to know the layout of the maze that is Chicago, just in case you need to escape sometime or other.

Breaking into another busy street, I pushed through the crowds of people, making my way towards my apartment in downtown Chicago.

"HEY! SOMEONE STOP THAT GUY!"

I cursed as I looked behind me to see the blonde in hot pursuit. Well, she definitly is hot, I mean- oh crap, I need to pull myself together. _Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way,_ I thought, looking around for potential areas to escape through.

 _THERE!_ I frantically made my way over to a nearby apartment fire escape, checking behind me to make sure the blonde wasn't any closer. She was. I quickly jumped up onto the fire escape, climbing dark metal stairs as quickly as I could to get to the top of the building. When I reached the top, I looked down from the ledge where I was perched to see her already making her way up the stairs. _DAMMIT, what can this girl not do!_ I looked around for any potential escape routes, but couldn't find any, seeing as we were on a riverside penthouse. I cursed at my stupidity of not being aware of the apartment's location, and realized my only way to escape was to jump into the river. I took one last look at the beautiful Chicago skyline, watching as the sun slowly began to disappear behind a huge front of clowds before I stepped up onto the ledge on the building's edge

"WAIT!"

I turned around to see the girl, standing in all of her intimidating beauty, glaring at me.

"Who the hell are you?" I said, not caring about the fact that she was hot, but the fact she had just chased me through a couple blocks of the city.

"Should I not be asking you the same question, Mr. Pickpocket?" She said with yet another angry glare.

"Hey come on, that's not my name!" I said plafully, now trying to get on her nerves.

"Oh yeah? Than what is?"

I faked a hurt expression and looked sadly at her. "Oh, come on you have to know me. I'm the greatest magician that has ever lived, Percy Jackson," I said as I spread my arms out and fell backward, down toward the murky, icy depths, only one thought in my mind. _Why did you tell her your name?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry the update is so late guys, school has been hell, plus I got sick so yeah... I forgot this in the first chapeter so I'm putting it in now: I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS CREATED BY RICK RIORDAN. I do own this story plot. anyway. thats it. Enjoy!**

I stood, dripping wet, at the door of my apartment, wondering what excuse I was going to give my mother this time. I hated lying to her, but that was the only way she'd accept the money I stole. Before I did anything, a single thought crossed my mind. The blonde. She was so confusing, I couldn't figure out why she'd go to such great lengths to pursue me, much less why I told her my identity. Right as I raised a fist to knock on the old blue wooden door, it opened to reveal a man dressed in a suit, with a tie and everything.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked/yelled, trying not to sound to irritated at this brown-haired, dark blue eyed pretty boy who was at my mother's apartment.

"Percy! Show some manners," My mom said, appearing next to this nicely dressed apparent douchebag.

"You must be Percy," The man said, obviously forcing a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you after hearing so much!"

"Oh really," I replied, hoping I wasn't laying the sarcasm on too thickly. "You've heard a lot about me huh? Who are you, and how long have you even been here?"

"Percy! Please show Mr. Lionuga some respect! He was just over for a couple hours helping me with our sink! He finally fixed the leaking problem I've been trying to get you fix for ages, so be polite!"

"Okay, okay. Thank you Mr. Lion for your services, I'm sure you can leave now," I said, making sure to make my smile seem as fake as possible.

"It's Ug-I mean, Lionuga, and it wasn't a problem. I'll be on my way then," He said as he turned and gave my mother a smile and finally left the doorframe.

As soon as I was sure he was out of earshot I turned to my mom and shot her a disapproving look after seeing the dreamy expression on her face.

"Seriously Mom? That guy? He's obviously a jackass!"

"You will not use that sort of language under my roof young man, and Cole is a fine gentlemen that knows his manners!"

"Okay, but don't blame me when he shows his true colors," I said as I sighed in defeat and began to enter the apartment.

"Wait a second!" My mother cried, feeling my damp leather jacket. "Why on earth are you covered in water?"

"Long story, but seeing as it's freezing may I come in and change?" I asked, actually feeling a bit chilly.

"Alright, but I expect to hear the full thing during dinner tonight alright? And I have to run a few errands, so I'll be back in a couple hours," She said, grabbing the worn out keys to her old mini-van.

"Got-it, I'll just be chilling in my room, Love you Mom!"

"Love you too sweetie, don't do anything stupid!"

 _Wow, thanks mom_ I though as I sluggishly made my way through our paint-peeling apartment toward my room, a safe haven for all of my *ahem* not legal possesions such as a set of lock picks and a couple switchblades (used only for defense, mind you.) When I got to my room, I began to undress, eager to get out of my soggy clothes when I realized I still had the guy's wallet and phone stuffed in my jacket's inner pocket. _The phone won't be worth much after it's little dip in the river, but something from the wallet could've survived_ I thought hopefully. As I pulled out the wallet, I realized that it wasn't a wallet at all, but some sort of booklet.

"Damn It!" I cursed, disappointed I had nothing to show for my swan dive of the roof-top, when I realized it had a strange sort of engraving on the cover. Stenciled on to the small leather book was some sort of a symbol that looked very old and... interesting. I reached out to feel the strange markings, but as soon as my fingers touched the stupid little book, the symbols suddenly lit up in a reddish glow, pouring off some sort of heat energy. Naturally, I did what any person would do: I yanked my hand back. However, unlike anything normal, I couldn't move. I was completely paralyzed and could do nothing but watch as the strange markings grew brighter and brighter until suddenly-they burst into a explosion of colors I had never seen, colors so beautiful and intense, you had to be there to understand the sheer beauty of it. Than the heat caught up, and the book, quite literally, burst into flames, creating a shock wave that threw my still paralyzed body onto the back wall of my room, slamming my head into a book case and then- darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Annnd I'm back, with little delay. Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback, it really boosts my confidence. Sorry about the previous length of chapters, I'll try to make them longer from now on. DISCLAMER: All charcters created by Rick Riordan. I only own the plot. If I owned the characters, I wouldn't be typing this on a six year old laptop. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

I woke with a start, cold sweat dripping from my neck, ready to get yelled at because I was late to school. _Wait a second,_ I thought as today's previous occurences started to flow back to me. I shot up, taking in my surroundings one horrifying glance at a time. My room was in ruins. Old posters that used to decorate the walls were now on the floor in ashes, scorch marks covered the ceilings and walls, and my bed was almost completely obliterated, just a small piece of the mattress untouched.

"What the f-" I stopped as I heard the front door open, most likely meaning my mother was home. _Crap, she isn't going to like this,_ I thought, more worried about my mother's wrath than the supernatural event which just occurred.

There was no hope of cleaning it up, the walls, my desk, and my bed were all damaged beyond repair, and I doubted that a couple wet wipes would clean off the scorch marks.

"Honey, I'm home! Could you help me with the groceries?" My mom yelled from22, the door, which meant my guess was correct.

"Give me a minute Mom, I'll be right there," I frantically yelled back, trying to figure a way to explain the sudden desolation that had swept across my room, when I realized I had a strange marking on my arm. _Oh sh-._

"I need help right now Percy!"

"Alright! I'll be there in a second!" This was not good. Not only was my room in ruins, but my Mom was also most likely going to kill me for getting this "tattoo". After studying it closely, I realized it looked pretty similar to the markings on the book, so that's what must have caused it. The symbol appeared to be engraved into my skin, more like a branding than a tattoo, which wouldn't really calm my mother any more. That stupid book was proving to be not worth the effort I put into stealing it, and I was not happy, especially since it also resulted in me giving away my identity to some irritating (Though hot) blonde.

"PERCY COME NOW!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" In a last second effort to spare myself from trouble I pulled on a sweatshirt to hide my arms, the blue fabric painfully sliding over the area of my forearm where he insignia was. As I left my room, I made sure it was closed and that there was no damage on the outside, which, luckily, didn't appear to be harmed at all.

I made my way to our front door, trying to think of an excuse to use for me taking so long, as she probably buy a "I was putting on some decent clothes". When I got to the door, I heard voices conversing with each other, and I realized my mother wasn't alone. _I swear, if she's with that lion guy again I'm going to punch him,_ I angrily thought as I threw open the front door. Two faces looked abruptly to me, and my breath hitched when I saw the person my mom was with. The blonde.

"Percy, meet Annabeth Chase, she was looking for you when I came up with the groceries so I brought her along with me since you refused to help," My mom said looking somewhat indignant.

I couldn't do anything but stare at the blo-I mean, Annabeth, because she had me pretty much petrified with a glare.

"Percy! Need I remind you not to be rude again?"

"Sorry, Mom. It's nice to meet you Annabeth," I said, half speaking, half grumbling as I reached out to shake her hand. She took it with a firm iron grip and shook it, before letting go and letting her hand drop to her side, where I could see her phone in outlined in her pocket.

"Why don't you two kids go on to your room, and I'll make you some cookies."

I froze. There's no way my mom was actually inviting this girl she just met into our house, let alone letting her go to my completely destroyed room.

"Um…" I stuttered.

"Run along now, the cookies will be done in around an hour, have fun!" My mom smirked at me as she turned around, holding in her arms the final bag of groceries. I rolled my eyes and motioned Annabeth to follow me, heading toward my room in defeat. How was I supposed to explain the destruction, and more importantly, how the hell did Annabeth find me?

I stopped her outside the door, turning around to see her face to face.

"How in the bloody hell did you find me?" I hissed, trying to keep my cool.

"It isn't to hard to find a thief like you when they're arrogant enough to give someone their name," she said, smirking as if to boast. I inwardly cursed myself for what seemed like the hundredth time for telling her my name.

"But how did you find out where I lived?" I asked, still very clearly pissed at this arrogant, hot, irritating girl.

"Why don't we continue this conversation in your room," Annabeth said as she reached for the old brass doorknob that led to me disaster ridden room.

"Wait!" I quickly said moving to swat her hand away from the handle, but it was to late. The door to catastrophe opened to reveal: nothing. My room was completely clean, all my posters still on my walls, my bed and desk intact, everything was just as it should be.

"What the hell?" I accidently said, my surprise evident in my voice.

"What? Shocked to see your room?" Annabeth said looking at me like I was crazy.

"No it's nothing," I said as I closed the door behind us. As Annabeth made herself comfortable in MY room, I was about to hit my breaking point. First the stupid book explodes, destroying my room, and then ANNABETH of all people show up at my apartment, and suddenly all the damage is gone. This day has been too much.

"To answer your previous question, I found out where you live because my dad is a frickin cop, and he left his computer out in the open. Based on what happened a couple hours ago, I thought I'd look you up so I could teach you a lesson."

"So you used your cop dad's computer to search up a thief you met just a couple hours ago, then went to an alleged criminal's apartment alone, at night, in downtown Chicago," I said. "You know, I feel honored," I said, regaining my cocky self that seemed to have been lost for the last couple hours.

She blushed, probably realizing how stupid it was to come to my apartment. "Well I hadn't thought to far ahead, and you didn't seem to dangerous. Besides, if I really wanted to, I could have the entire Chicago police department here with one phone call," She said, regaining her irritating confidence.

"Really with what?"

"My phone you stupid bast-" She stopped talking as she reached down to her the pocket where she kept her phone, only to find it empty,

"Looking for this?" I smirked as I held up her phone, an old iphone with a sleek black case, before tossing it on to my bed where she had sat down.

"You're a real dirt-bag you know that?" She grumbled, glaring at me as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. "Besides, now I could have my father arrest you for both the theft I witnessed out in the streets, and stealing my phone!" She said triumphantly, looking very proud of herself for realizing that I had just committed another felony.

"And what evidence do you have?" I asked, smirking because I knew she had none.

"Well there is this," she said, reaching for an object on my desk. "I'm pretty sure this is that guy's wallet!"

"WAIT!" I shouted, realizing that the accursed book had appeared on my desk, but I realized it was to late-she had already touched it. But nothing happened. There was no flash of color, no explosion, just Annabeth standing there holding the small leather bound book as she stared at me oddly.

"I think you might need to see a therapist," she said, raising an eyebrow. "And this isn't a wallet, so what is it? What did you steal from the poor man?"

"I don't know alright, and you have no business here, so why don't you just shut up, put down the book, and just leave." I said, the anger evident in my voice.

"Because if I wanted to, I could turn you in to my father right now!" She said.

"Right, if you really could do that, then why haven't you?" I asked, hoping to catch her off guard.

"Because-" She stopped, clearly not knowing what to say. It would seem my plan worked.

"Is your dad even a real cop?" I asked.

"Of course he is! Why would I lie?"

"Um, I don't know, maybe to intimidate a thief such as myself and to keep yourself from getting hurt?"  
"How dare you accuse me of lying! If anything you're the liar here you dirty criminal. I know the charges for theft, and you could be going away for a long time if you don't keep me happy!"  
"So what do you want then? For me to make you happy?" I asked, realizing that she actually had caught me, and if she was telling the truth, she very well could put me away for a while, and I couldn't do that to my mom.

"Just don't be rude! Honestly, you'd think a street magician would at least be able to pretend to have manners!"

"Alright, alright fine, I'll play nice" I said through gritted teeth, knowing how hard this was going to be.

"Now, could you please explain why a teenager as young as yourself performs magic on the streets of Chicago, then steals from his audience?"

"Why the hell do you think?" I said, gesturing around my room. "My mom and I aren't really what you'd call rich."

"So you steal from others to benefit yourself? Why not just get a job?"

"Magic is my job! It just doesn't make enough money, so I take a little from any rich looking people I see. I never steal from anyone that even looks as poor as we are. We don't all have rich dads to buy us fancy clothes and bracelets!" I said, motioning toward her jacket that was clearly designer, as well as a silver charm bracelet around her wrist. "We don't all have dads…" I added, my voice scarcely above a whisper.

She seemed to have heard me however, and though she had looked like she was about to explode, she actually looked sincerely sorry for me now. Great, just what I needed, pity from a potential threat.

"Look, I'm sorry about your dad, and just so you know my dad isn't rich, it's my mom. But just because you don't have enough money doesn't mean you take it from others!"

"Why not. Why should my mom have to suffer when there are rich bastards out there that waste their money on fancy wine and suits, not caring about the people that suffer everyday because they don't have a fraction of what these idiots do. My mom doesn't deserve that, she deserved the whole world, and if you think that that's not a good cause to steal from the upper level of society, then your just as in the wrong as they are." This girl was really starting to piss me off. Who was she to come in to my life, to blackmail me, to judge me? I was beyond angry now, I was furious, and by the look in her eyes, she could tell. I walked right up to her and stared her in the eyes, glaring with an anger filled passion.

"What the hell's wrong with your eyes? And you need to calm down."

"I need to calm down?" I was yelling now, not caring if my mother heard us. "You're the one that waltzes into my house trying to blackmail me, and the you just go and insult my family, I have every right to be mad!"

She took a step backward, as if I seemed threatening, and reached for something in her jacket pocket. Only too late did I realize what it was, and by then, she was running out the door, leaving her pocketknife embedded in my stomach.


End file.
